Epps at The Hi-Tone

Tools

This Friday night Epps will release their debut EP, Reversed Words. Formed by Olivia de Witt, Landon Moore, and Wil DeShazo, de Witt said that Epps was put together after she started taking guitar lessons from Moore.

"Landon and Wil were in Fast Planet, which was this ambient electronic band, and basically the band was starting to not do as much," de Witt said. (Full disclosure: De Witt's mother works at the Flyer.)

"Landon decided the two of them wanted to do a project with someone younger, and he knew I wrote music, so when he told Wil about the project, they chose to work with me."

De Witt admits that this is the first serious band she's been a part of, and that other projects with her peers "didn't get a whole lot done," but Epps is already making waves, with songs from Reversed Words being streamed by the website Trip Hop Nation last week. So what exactly is trip-hop? De Witt describes it as electronic music that's darker than what you'd hear on top 40 radio.

"It's poppy, but it's still dark and mysterious. We were listening to a lot of Portishead while we were in the process of making the EP, and I was listening to a lot of James Blake when I wrote the lyrics," de Witt said.

As for Friday's release show at the Hi-Tone, the band has enlisted two drummers (Ryan Peel and Zach Logan), in addition to backup singer Jean Jackson and bass player Griffin Rone. And while de Witt is gearing up for her senior year at St. Mary's, she said Epps still have plenty planned for the rest of the 2016.

"We're recording a few more songs, maybe for a full length, and we'll also have a video out soon."